Mostly, the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons are very enjoyable, and the best of them are brilliant . This said, the later years did see some duds, and unfortunately Boulder Wham is one of them.
Boulder Wham is not a complete and utter waste of time. The opening title credits are quite clever, there is a good hypnotism sequence which is by far the most successful of the gags. Wile also a few amusing moments, as to be expected a good job is done with his expressions and you still root for him, the thing is though he has been funnier and better drawn in previous cartoons and his cunning side is a little downplayed here.
Roadrunner is very one-dimensional, and while in the earlier cartoons he was amusing and cute and worked well with Wile (who is by far the funnier and more interesting character) he is more annoying than funny here. The two's chemistry is rather bland too. The animation sadly is rather limited, as was the case with most of the Looney Tunes around the late 60s period due to lower budgets., the Daffy and Speedy cartoons are notable examples.
Wile and Roadrunner are rather poorly drawn, the backgrounds are far too sparse (taking simplicity to extremes, making it simplistic instead) and it's all very flatly and garishly coloured. None of the visuals are very imaginative either, whereas before some of the humour actually came from the visuals in the gags, here it's rather basic. Bill Lava's score also disappoints, it does sound very stock and cheap and lacks energy and is somewhat discordant. Milt Franklyn and especially Carl Stalling's scores fitted far better, sounded great and enhanced the action as well as adding to it, Lava's here feels misplaced and an ill-match for the material, almost as if Lava had forgotten the sort of cartoon he was writing for.
As for the gags, the gags themselves conceptually were pretty good (if not the most original ) but the execution of them didn't come over very well. The funniest they get is the odd mild smile, but nothing stands out as hilarious,. It all feels very tired and repetitive, and the action is far too static instead of the non-stop energy of the best of the series. The story is very predictable, even for a rather formula series like the Roadrunner and Wile cartoons, the thing was the best of the material in the earlier cartoons was inspired with sharp timing, genuine hilarity and visual imagination. Boulder Wham doesn't really have any of those things and it is a shame. Even the cartoon's title feels uninspired.
Overall, disappointing and among the weakest of a mostly enjoyable series of cartoons. 4/10 Bethany Cox
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